Runes and their origin. Denmark and Elsewhere

Dr Erik Moltke is the one man who could be trusted to write the book on ˮRunes and Their Origin. Denmark and Elsewhereˮ. In 1942 he and Lis Jacobsen published the standard edi­tion of Danish inscriptions, and under his leadership the Runological Section of the National Museum of Denmark became a world centre for the scienti­fic study of runology. In this new book the many finds of the last 40 years – some of them no less than epochmaking – are added to the corpus known in 1942, and the discussion of the inscrip­ tions themselves is introduced by an authoritative contribution on the origin and development of runes, firmly based on prin­ ciples of alphabet history. Dr Moltke's long experince as chief editor of the National Museum's great series of volumes on Denmark's churches also makes him outstandingly well qual­ ified to illuminate the significance of the runes seen against the background of Danish culture and religion in its different phases.